Learners as Decision Makers

The next principle that is being addressed is Learners as Decision Makers.  This chapter takes place with Vella using a case study of her time in Nepal training other trainers for the Save the Children organization.  Her previous chapters also discussed working with Save the Children.  This principle that Vella talks about deals with in cooperating your students into their own learning plans.   I work in corporate education so I do not have this luxury, but Vella gets to work in adult education in its purest form.  The learners have a vested interest in attending her classes, and they can help determine their own learning plans.  All of her students or most of them are volunteers.  The majority of her actual students are other trainers that she is training, so they can train the actual individuals.  But, this principle does apply and cascades down from the trainer’s she’s training, too the participants the trainers are training.  All of them have chosen to attend the training and contribute to their own learning, and a major stakeholder in the process.

Brad

Praxis

The next chapter I read in the book is about the principle praxis.  According to Vella, praxis is a Greek work that means” action with reflection.”  This is a principle that I really appreciated because I firmly believe that learners need to do something, and some time to think about what they did. In my classes I always tell them have a rem-cycle to really let the material sink in.  But Vella explains that it is more than that.  Her example was working in the Maldives.  During their training session they broke up the ten days of training with a day of rest for reflection.  A nice byproduct of letting the information sink in with the learners was the ability for the trainers to tweak the training to meet the unique demands of the class.  I have done this myself, training a pilot class, my break was the weekend, but it allowed me time to change up the training to accommodate the class.

Brad

Sequence and Reinforcement

This last chapter that I read was about sequence and reinforcement.  Vella explains these principles by using a case study of her time working with migrant Haitian workers in North Carolina.  Vella was asked to help develop a program teaching other teachers how teach English to these workers.  Vella explained that she would first need to go and teach English to them herself before she would be able to develop a program for others to use.  She explains how she didn’t follow good sequence and quantum thinking.  She should have understood more about their culture prior to trying to teach them English.   One of my favorite parts of this chapter was when Vella states, “I have always taught: no laughing, no learning.”  I find this to be very true myself.  If the students are not enjoying their time in class it can make the learning process a lot more difficult.

Brad

Sound Relationships

In this chapter Vella talks about a relationship she had with a student from Indonesia.   Vella explains how the relationship changed.  Her student was a Doctor who had come over on a type of fellowship or internship to work with Vella and learn new skills that she would teach to people back in Indonesia when she went home.  One of the first things that Vella assigned was a reading list.  Vella explains that she was no longer the teacher as her and the student were  learning together and the author of the books was the teacher.  I found this chapter interesting, because it was called “Sound Relationships: Using the Power of Friendship” I was a little concerned that it would border line an inappropriate relationship.  I think it’s an interesting topic, making friends with your students.  And it is a very dangerous thing to engage in.  But, this chapter was not about that at all.  It talked more about defining the roles with the student, and redefining them as you and the student progress.  One thing that I really like in this chapter is it talks about the role distinction of the professor/student dissolving.  I always tell my classes we are all members of the class we just have different roles, and truly it is their class.  I believe my beliefs are right on target with Vella’s here. 

Brad

Safety

This last chapter that I read was about safety in adult education.  When Vella talks about safety she is talking about trust, and whether or not the members of the group feel safe to learn and express their opinions, thoughts, and questions.  This is a really important part of adult education, creating a safe environment where everyone can learn.  Vella explains the implications of what can happen if it is perceived as an unsafe environment.  That is something that isn’t said in the chapter but I firmly believe.  It doesn’t matter if the environment is truly safe or not, it’s totally based on the perception of the learners.  If the learners feel the environment is not safe, they will not able to fully engage in the learning process.  Vella used an example of teaching in Tanzania in churches.  Because they did not do enough discoveries of the culture and the norms, they were not successful in their program because they hired a local Muslim community leader to work with them in the Christian churches.  This created uneasiness with the learners, and ruined any trust Vella had worked to gain.  I think the case study clearly shows how much the perception of safety has on a class, and it can ultimately determine your success or failure.

 Brad

Ethiopia

This is the first real case study that is discussed in the book.  There have been case studies but they didn’t seem to be real case studies more like hypothetical scenarios.   This case study is about Vella teaching in Ethiopia for the drought relief.  The ultimate plan was not to go and help the relief effort but to create a long term solution for the Ethiopian people to be self sufficient.  The relief efforts provided, vaccinations, health treatments, distribute food, and keep heath records on all recipients.  The long term plan was to help the Ethiopian people become more self sufficient, and be able to survive droughts through planning and saving crops.   The study talks about how Vella got local buy in and credibility by utilizing one of the local leaders.  The chapter also explains how Vella who did not know the native language and Fatuma the local leader who was working with Vella communicated.    What I really like is how Vella starts asking questions for her design process.  My favorite quest she asks is called the WWW (Who needs What, as defined by Whom. I am excited to be reading the case studies now, and I think this should make the read more enjoyable.  The beginning of the book read like a text book.

Brad

Course Desgin

This section of the book is about how the 12 principles effect your course design.  I am used to the ADDIE model of instructional design and this did not really go along with that design principle.    Vella talks about 7 design steps:

Who

Why

When

Where

What

What for

How

I guess if I had to fit this into the ADDIE model I would not call this the design step, but the development step.  I think that these words design and develop are in the incorrect order.  When I think of design I think of the actual creation of the content, and when I think of develop I think of all the background questions that are asked to determine what it is we are trying to end with.  

To express how Vella designs her course she gave two case studies, to use.  I didn’t think they were the best case studies because before we even started designing the training I don’t know that we really determined that this is a training issue.  The only two things that training can change are skill, and knowledge I don’t know that with either case study we have determined that prior to diving in.

Brad

Quantum Thinking

This chapter that I just read was pretty strange.  It was about quantum thinking, which is looking at the world in a new way based on quantum physics.  Vella talks about 6 quantum topics and how they relate to adult education.  The six topics are:

Relatedness:  everything in teaching is related to the 12 principles of adult education

A holistic approach: the participants learn more than we teach them

Duality: hear from both sides

Uncertainty: we don’t know what we don’t know

Participation: you are part of your own learning and environment

Energy:  Learning and teaching requires energy

She explains how these 6 quantum topics are related to the 12 principles of adult education that she has defined earlier.  I wasn’t totally making the connection myself

I can see how some of these quantum topics are related but she only picked 6 show I wonder why she made this connection in the first place.  I feel like you could tie most things into adult education and the 12 principles she listed.  I could say, a football team is like adult education.  Everyone has a different role and different background but they all are working towards the same goal.  A facilitator is similar to a quarterback, they lead the group but it takes a contribution from everyone to be successful.  I hope that later in the book I make more connections that I can use.

12 Principles of Adult Education

Vella has discussed all 12 of the principles that a teacher can teach through dialogue.  The twelve principles are:

Needs assessment

Safety

Sound Relationships

Sequence

Praxis

Respect for learners

Ideas, feelings, and actions

Immediacy

Clear roles and role development

Teamwork

Engagement

Accountability

Some of the principles that really hit home with me were the “sequence and praxis”.  I firmly believe that adult education and training is all about training adults what they need to know when they need to know it.  I call that content in context at the right time.  Information that they need, in a way they can use, when they can use it.  Praxis deals with the practical application of the information that was learned.  It is different from practice.  Praxis is not just practicing what is learned it is reflecting on what was learned and adjusting your learning to meet your changing needs.

The one thing that I took away from the principles was the “ideas, feelings, and actions” this deals with the cognitive, affective, and psychomotor.   The way Vella breaks them down and explains their importance really makes sense to me.

I am looking forward to starting into the individual case studies for each principle. 

1st Blog

This is my first blog for the book Learning to Listen Learning to Teach.  Jane Vella, explains how her principles of adult learning work in almost any learning situation.  Every principle is then later demonstrated in a case study.  I am looking forward to reading the case studies because when I skimmed ahead they seemed more like short stories. I always try to picture myself in the scenario the author is explaining.  Then it seems more like a story than a case study and doesn’t feel text bookish.   The 2^nd principle that she talks about is “safety”.  Safety in the class room is making a safe environment where the learners are safe to learn and share their thoughts.    It also deals with safety in the context of learning.  Using proven methods to reassure the learners that there is methodology to their learning, and explaining this to them is something I have never done before.   I never thought of this before but I tried it in class today.  My new hire class has to take their final tomorrow, and their job is contingent on a passing grade.  Many of them are feeling anxious about it.  Today I explained that I have used this same process to teach the last five classes, and everyone has been able to pass the test.  I feel like it did ease their minds a little bit.   I also explained that the goal of the class is not to pass the test, but to give them the information that they need to be successful at their job, and that passing the final is just a byproduct of that.    The 1^st principle that Jane talks about is needs assessment, I didn’t feel as much of an ah-hah moment with the needs assessment because this has been part of every instructional design course I have ever taken, but the safety really seemed to make sense to me.   I will be moving on to the next couple principles, “sound relationships” and “sequence”.